Autonomous obstacle avoidance system announced by Renault

Tony Middlehurst - Autocar

New tech brings full autonomy a little closer

Many of us have wondered what autonomous cars will do when confronted by a sudden obstacle in the road.

Well, it would seem that Renault has answered that question in this video

It shows a driverless Renault Zoe, which for some reason has been named Callie, successfully missing stuff that’s been put in its way after ‘learning’ from professional drivers.

Tests showed that the Zoe’s ‘reactions’ and avoidance skills were as good as those of the human drivers. Its ability to ‘swerve and avoid’ is, according to Renault, an industry first and a big step forward in the company’s plan to be one of the first brands to achieve full ‘mind off’ autonomy.

A key element in Renault’s Drive the Future mid-term strategy is to put 15 autonomy-equipped models on sale between now and 2022. UK transport secretary Chris Grayling has said that the first fully autonomous cars are expected to be in use on British roads by 2021.

“At Groupe Renault, we are focused on being an innovation leader in products, technology and design,” said Simon Hougard, director of Renault’s Open Innovation Lab in Silicon Valley, where the main objective is to build safety into autonomous tech.